Does Sugar as a matter of fact Make You Fat?

Can sugar contribute to obesity? Yes.

Can a someone eat a lot of sugar and remain thin? Also yes.

Plenty of thin people eat a diet high in refined sugar. Think of all the teens who live on soda and fast food. Therefore, logically, sugar is not the sole cause of obesity. Of my four children, my son who never has to worry about his weight eats more sugar than his siblings, yet remains thin without trying.

There is minute doubt that eating more fat than the body consumes leads to obesity. But does the body care if the fat come from sugar or from a healthy equilibrium of fruits and vegetables, meat and potatoes?

At least in many instances, it seems the riposte is no. When patients enter the hospital they are ordinarily given Iv fluids which are primarily sugar water. Many of these patients lose weight, despite taking most of their fat in the form of glucose. Cancer patients and others with serious illness survive on tube feeds alone for months or years at a time. Many of these patients lose weight, despite the high carbohydrate content of the liquid diet. The total fat taken in is simply insufficient to meet the needs of the body. The body feeds on itself to make up for inadequate diet, and weight loss results.

On the other hand, patients who are already overweight or obese often organize a craving for sugar or straightforward carbohydrates, and find these foods tend to enunciate or worsen the overweight condition.

Just what gives here? Do doctors and scientists understand what's going on?

A few years ago they conception they had the answer. The discovery of leptin scantness in massively obese mice led scientists to believe they had the riposte for overweight humans as well. Leptin tends to inhibit appetite. The lack of this hormone makes mice (and people) eat voraciously. However, it turns out that most overweight people have more leptin than thinner people. The biologic law that controls appetite and weight turns out to be much more involved than previously understood.

Scientists did observe that positive humans have the mutation that leads to leptin scantness and obesity at a young age. Treating these children with leptin does help lower their body weight considerably.

But what about the middle-aged adult who has seen the spare tire inflate over the years? Currently we have no good riposte except to eat less and rehearsal more. Avoiding sugar is not a bad idea - it's so difficult to limit intake to a reasonable estimate that total abstinence may be an easier answer. But other straightforward carbohydrates may be just as bad for the body: white bread, white rice, white potatoes, breakfast cereal, and pasta.

The healthiest diet is one that consists primarily of vegetables and fruits, yet many find this unfulfilling. No matter what the scientists discover, a pill can't be the riposte for contemporary man. We simply need to rehearsal more and eat healthier. The very conception makes me hungry for a piece of cake. What's a someone to do? I'm pretty sure if we had to grow our own food we'd all be thinner - I know I would be. Can I use my teenagers for an excuse for now?

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, M.D.